Three major muscles -- the adductor brevis, adductor longus and adductor magnus -- make up your inner thigh. These muscles are primarily responsible for hip adduction, or bringing your thighs together. They also act during hip flexion or extension. Your hip adductors are critical for maintaining proper body alignment during squats, lunges and other leg exercises.
Standing Hip Adduction
You need a low cable pulley and an ankle cuff for this classic inner-thigh exercise. Stand sideways to the pulley and place the cuff around the ankle closest to the pulley. Sidestep away from the pulley until you feel slight tension in the cable. Shift your far leg out until your feet are at least hip-width apart. Stand up straight and squeeze your abs to keep your torso stable as you bring your cuffed leg in and across, just in front of your other leg. Repeat for a full set of 12 repetitions, then switch to the other side.
Seated Adduction
Odds are that your gym has a seated adduction or inner-thigh machine. It might have rotating pads that allow you to switch the focus between your inner and outer thighs. If so, rotate the pads to the insides of the leg rests. Then sit in the seat and place your inner thighs against the pads. Most machines also have a lever you can use to adjust the range of motion to suit your current level of flexibility. Squeeze your knees together against the machine's resistance, then return to the starting position and repeat. Note that all three of your hip adductors work during adduction, regardless of whether your hip is extended or straight.
Lunges
Lunges will quickly reveal whether you have a marked weakness in your hip adductors. If you're able to maintain proper form, lunges will also help strengthen these muscles in addition to every other major lower-body muscle. Start with no weight to diagnose proper form; if you can do at least 12 lunges with each leg while maintaining good form, you can hold a barbell across your shoulders or a dumbbell in each hand for extra resistance. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and take a large step forward with one foot. Drop both knees straight down, allowing your back heel to come up off the floor. If your front knee droops inward, this can signal weak hip adductors, though it might also be a sign of inflexible hips.
Plie Squats
Place both feet wider than shoulder-width apart. If you imagine you're facing one side of an imaginary box, your toes should be spread out at an angle so each foot points toward an adjacent corner of the box. Squat down to a 90-degree bend in each leg, keeping your pelvis tucked. Watch your knees to make sure they stay centered over your toes, with each knee pointing the same direction as the foot on the same side. Note that this is a strengthening exercise, not a stretching exercise -- so if inner-thigh inflexibility keeps you from sinking into the plie squat, stick to a pain-free range of motion and work on your flexibility separately from your strength training.
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